Banksy Mural Up For Sale Again

A London Banksy mural which was withdrawn from a controversial auction at the 11th hour has been put up for auction again, to the dismay of local campaigners.

Slave Labour, which shows a young boy hunched over a sewing machine making Union Jack bunting, appeared on a wall in Wood Green last May, just before the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

It disappeared from the side of the Poundland store in February and then appeared in Miami for auction, but was withdrawn at the last minute after protests from Haringey Council.

But the work is now up for sale at an auction in Covent Garden on June 2 by the Sincura Group.

The local Trades Union Congress attacked the move.

Haringey TUC secretary Keith Flett said: "The Slave Labour Banksy belongs to the people of Haringey not to a wealthy private client.

"We want the sale stopped and the Banksy back where it belongs in London N22."

When the mural was up for auction in Miami, where it was expected to fetch up to £450,000, Claire Kober, the leader of Haringey Council, said they were exploring "all options to bring back Banksy to the community where it belongs".

There was intrigue and suspicion that the mural had been stolen when it disappeared in February but Scotland Yard said there were "no reports of any theft".

Auctioneers Sincura said that the mural has "been sensitively restored under a cloak of secrecy", and will go on show alongside pieces by Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol, Mario Testino and Russell Young.

Slave Labour will go on sale at the London Film Museum in London's Covent Garden on June 2.